Last week we took a look at Plymouth drivers. Let’s now focus on the last of the Pentastar siblings, with this gallery of Dodge owners from the past. This mix covers the glitzy days from the Exner era, the early ’60s transition, a bit of the muscle car period, and a sprinkle of Brougham.
In regards to their owners and passengers, no generalities this time. They seem a rather varied lot, with no easy way to pin them down. But a fun group to check out nonetheless.
It’s always fascinating how owners’ perceived personality qualities jive with their cars.
The Lancer on the mountain viewpoint is right next to another one, or a Valiant. Coincidence, or?
That struck me as well. Almost a Mopar meet up.
That photo gets my vote as the best in the bunch. The lady just looks like she’s having such a good time.
That, and the hanging clothes bar in the back. Used to be the hallmark of a traveling salesperson. Although in this case, maybe just a person on vacation…who doesn’t like to iron.
That woman looks like someone hip and cool and who I’d want to be friends with. In ’64, ’74, ’84, ’94, ’04, ’14 or ’24. Funny to think she’d probably be in her 80’s or older now
I like these, the one similarity they all share is looking conservative .
-Nate
Maybe after Exner left, but those pre-1964 Dodges looked pretty wild. The ‘67 Charger was also not a conservatively styled car.
I’m sorry, I wasn’t being clear : the _people_ in these pictures are all conservatively dressed .
It makes the picture even better .
-Nate
Once upon a time Dodge , also Plymouth, used to have interesting cars , people had them in mind at the moment of buying a new vehicle . Beyond all discussions about designs and engines , I think the Daimler-Chrysler management or the recent FCA’s association will make the Dodge automobile’s name a big stock parade for a coming automotive museum
It is funny that out of all the cars I have owned, and how much I have been a Mopar homer, I have never owned a Dodge. But I had a lot of close encounters – with almost all of these. Like the red Charger I looked at before I bought my first car, the Lancer owned by a kid on my dorm floor, the 63 Dodge I test drove and made an offer on, the 64 880 owned by family friends and the 70 Coronet wagon owned by the pizza shop for a spare delivery vehicle where I worked in college.
Oh, and the red Charger a college roommate had (only his was a 74).
The ’66 and ’67 Chargers are really nice looking cars, particularly like this one pictured when they are in stock condition and not all modded and hot-rodded out.
There’s a baggage that comes with the later Chargers that makes the nameplate a target for gearhead fodder. not that there’s anything wrong with that, I like a 68-70 with glasspacks, on Cragars Vectors, slots et al with the torsionbars cranked up as much as anybody, but the 66-67s are best treated the same way you would a mid 60s Tbird or Riviera. Its really much more of a personal luxury coupe and looks most natural with the factory original whitewalls and wheelcovers.
What year is the Charger in the first photo? Was it before or after the similar Marlin?
I think the AMC Marlin came out first, in 1965, so these fastback Chargers were after that.
I just love that first photo of the red Charger. The only Mopars that I’ve had experience with are minivans. I have an Uncle who was a Mopar guy, he had a ’63 Sport Fury. Last time I saw him he was rocking a Dodge Magnum!
Love the 1970 Charger!
A gearhead friend has built a ’69 R/T (my favorite year) with a modern 392 Hemi and 8 speed auto.
Dang, it gives me the wants!
The white Lancer on the mountaintop shows something that’s largely disappeared from the roads – folks using a clothes rack in the back seat area. I never quite understood how having unwrinkled clothes could be more important than seeing out the back of your car, but for a lot of people that was a necessity.
That caught my attention. Most cars had those hooks, but nobody ever used them. Only once I saw a car delivering for a laundry, using a similar clothesline setup.
My uncle had one back in the day in his ’63 Chevy Bel Air.
Not a good idea today with side curtain airbags!
I would imagine the young lady is traveling long distance. Either to or from college or first career job.
Keeping the wrinkles out of clothing was something my two older sisters obsessed with as most clothing was cotton. As permanent press, nylons, etc became more popular in the mid 60’s, folding clothes was allowed and the iron stayed home during family vacations.
I used to see that a lot back in the day; childless and older couples mainly. Beats having to iron all those clothes…
The Lancer on the mountain…Is that Pikes Peak?
Well, it’s clearly not Ohio…
Looks high enough to be Pikes Peak, but here in Colorado there’s also a road to the top of Mount Blue Sky (formerly Mount Evans). In addition, there are many turnouts located along Trail Ridge Road and other highways running over Colorado Mountain Passes. Any one of them would provide a similar view.
That was my first thought too – though I compared it to some recent photos from the Pikes Peak summit, and I don’t see any where the scenery match up. I’d love to know if other folks can match this up.
When I drove up Pikes Peak in 1989, it was so foggy that I could barely see the side of the road, let alone the mountain view.
It doesn’t look like Pikes Peak, Mt. Evans and I’m pretty familiar with Trail Ridge and it doesn’t ring that bell for me either.
Bottom Photo: Red Dodge
Are these newly weds?? Note that Mom is wiping some type of lettering (white shoe polish) off of the windshield. Also, something is written on the side door window which the young lady is standing behind.
Good call. The window says “Sucker”, a common thing written on wedding cars years ago.
That looks like suburban heaven in the first picture.
My maternal grandfather was a dyed in the wool Dodge driver. However, when we moved from New Jersey to outside Baltimore I didn’t see him much and I was 9 when we moved. Then we moved to Los Angeles in 1966 and the only way I saw him is when he drove out from Florida where he retired. He used that opportunity to drive through Moriarty New Mexico, in his 66 Dodge, because his last name was Moriarty. Since I wasn’t absorbed into cars at that young age I never could ask him why he always bought Dodge. I could have asked some years later but he passed away at less the 70 years old in 1974.
I can’t believe I found this photo I took in 1964. Left at our house in Catonsville by him. My father and paternal grandfather raking leaves.
Raking leaves or changing a flat tire ? .
-Nate
I’ll be damned as you are right. I never looked that close because my father was never a hands on car guy. If you had asked me if my father knew how to change a tire the first immediate response out of me would have been NO! Now the next question would be could he get the tire off since he had no tools other than the crappy tool/pry bar they give with the car.
Pops didn’t _need_ to know how, that’s what Gramps was there for .
-Nate
Being born in New York City my grandfather never owned a car and I am not even sure he had a valid driver’s license. He did sometimes drive us kids around in the mid-60s when he visited us in Maryland, That came to a stop and I would guess my mother.
Later, in the mid-80s when my father moved his parents out of their long term apartment in the Bronx, to the Bay Area, I got to do an eye exam on my grandfather.Turns out he was legally blind in one eye since early childhood and no one knew except him and now me.
One of your best galleries yet, sparking many imagined stories! I’ll bet the ‘70 Charger is that lady’s own car, what with her tasteful outfit that coordinates with its colour. A statement of independence and style. The Far Side glasses are a bonus.
My mother, in the same age bracket, had a ‘68 in orange with black vinyl roof.
My mother bought her Dodge in 1950, a Wayfarer. Following suit, I bought my first car in 1966, a Dodge Coronet 2-door sedan, stripper. Then a 1973 Dodge Dart with all the whistles and bells, such as were offered, and finally, a 1978 Dodge Aspen Station Wagon with everything on it except the A91 Deluxe Sound Insulation Package – unfortunately. It really needed the A91! I drove the car for 185,000 miles before buying my first GMC, a 1986 Safari. I was selling GMC’s by this time. I ran the Safari for 318,000 miles which is when it spun a main bearing in the engine.
Maybe it’s because the plane of the top is flatter, but (to me) the 66 Dodge never had the “hunchback of Notre Dame” look that afflicted the Marlin. My first 70 Charger was driven by a lady matching the one in the picture; was four years old, and had 29K miles and still smelled new inside. 🙂
Since someone asked, the first photo is a 66 Charger, there only 3 slight difference between a 66 and 67. 66s have a console that runs all the way to the back seat creating rear buckets. It wasnt well received so the console stopped at the front seat backs in 67. 67s had turn signal indicators on the front fender corners. Lastly the seat covers material stitching runs horizontily in 66 and vertically in 67. Great car ahead of its time in many ways and among the very first available with a 426 Street Hemi when Chrysler first made the engine available in passenger cars in 1966.